Viewing of Mercury Transit Cancelled Due to Weather

Published: Thursday, April 28, 2016

The weather in the Midwest has not cooperated with the viewing of the Transit of Mercury. The viewing scheduled for today at Benedictine College has been cancelled.

You can watch the live feed from NASA at: 

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/eclipse/index.html

Here is the previous story with additional information:

Mercury will pass between the Sun and Earth on May 9, appearing as a small dot on the face of the Sun. The event, which happens only about 13 times in a century, will begin at sunrise and Mercury will be visible, weather permitting, as a silhouette moving across the bright surface of the Sun until about 1:40 p.m. Remember to never look directly at the Sun without proper eye protection.

This is the first time Mercury will transit the Sun since 2006. The passage of a planet across the face of the Sun is a relatively rare occurrence as seen from Earth, since only Venus and Mercury are inside the Earth’s orbit. The next time Mercury will transit the Sun is in 2019, but it will not do so again until 2032.

In Atchison, the transit begins at sunrise as Mercury first crosses the outer rim of the Sun, appearing as a small notch. Then for the next several hours, Mercury will be seen as a very fine, sharp black dot silhouetted against the bright solar disk. Finally, the transit ends in mid-afternoon as the planet exits the Sun’s disk.

Founded in 1858, Benedictine College is a Catholic, Benedictine, residential, liberal arts college located on the bluffs above the Missouri River in Atchison, Kansas. The school is proud to have been named one of America’s Best Colleges by U.S. News & World Report as well as one of the top Catholic colleges in the nation by First Things magazine and the Newman Guide. It prides itself on outstanding academics, extraordinary faith life, strong athletic programs, and an exceptional sense of community and belonging.  It has a mission to educate men and women within a community of faith and scholarship.